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The Dead @ Garden State Arts Center | Review

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/19/2004 - 18:42

The first night (8/10) was really nice. We had outstanding weather, and the crowd was mellow. As always there was lots of fun to be had in the parking lot and on the lawn. I like PNC - the people who work there aren't total JERKS like the people at Jones Beach. On the way into the show we saw some interesting things.. One guy tried to smuggle beer in by storing it in his ass. Well, ok, not exactly! He tied a jacket around his waste and lined the inside of the jacket with beer cans. Pretty clever, but I don't think he got passed the security folks. We missed the first song, but came in at the start of Here Comes Sunshine, which was great.

I really dug Cumberland Blues, Come Together, Scarlet Begonias and Looks Like Rain. And US blues rocked! What can I say? I can't pick one favorite because the whole show was good. Oh yeah, Warren Haynes is AWESOME!!!!

The second night (8/11) we got poured on!!! The rain lasted for hours and even when it finally slowed down, we still got lots of lightning (No matter - Mother Nature's special effects are always better than what they have on stage! Although I must say that the back drop and lighting for these shows were some of the coolest I've ever seen. Even my brother said so and he doesn't usually give a rat's ass about that stuff!) Anyway, the crowd was a lot more pumped, probably because of the rain, and that always makes for a fun show! One not-so-cool thing: somebody threw a bottle of water onto the stage while the band was playing. What's up with that??

Here's the set list:

@=Bobby acoustic^=new song 1st time played,sung by WarrenAugust 11, 2004PNC Bank Arts CenterHolmdel, NJSet 1:Jam>Playin' In The Band>Birdsong>All That We Are>Cassidy>Tomorrow Never KnowsSelf DefenseMinglewood BluesLucy In The Sky With DiamondsSet 2:@Peggy-ODear Mr. Fantasy>^St Stephen>^He's Gone>Drums>^Space>^China Doll^SugareeBirdsong Reprise>Cassidy Reprise>Touch of Grey

E: @Ripple

@Bobby acoustic^ with Joan Osbourne

Dear Mr. Fantasy, St. Stephen and Sugaree were so fantastic! And it was such a nice surprise when Joan Osborne showed up. And there's no better encore than Ripple as far as I'm concerned. All in all, the shows were both great, and I can't wait for the next tour!

That being said I'd like to bring up a related topic since I have your attention. When I'm not at Dead shows, I'm busy at work, as a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Consequently, no matter what I'm doing, hearing loss is typically somewhere in my thoughts. I've been going to shows for a dozen or so years, and have always appreciated the family atmosphere. It's great to see people from every age group enjoying the music and the environment. But it killed me at this last show to see a little baby, who couldn't have been more than four months old, exposed to such loud music. Even though we were at an outdoor venue, we were hearing stuff that probably measured way beyond 100 decibels. All I'm saying is that noise-induced hearing loss is something parents need to be mindful of. I don't blame any of you adults for not wanting to wear earplugs - I'm guilty too! But that's my choice. We have to make better choices for our kids!! Ok, thanks for listening, I'm getting off my pedastal now! Enjoy the rest of the summer everyone!

2 Comments

At the end when you wrote about noise-induced hearing loss I thought you were going to mention the vocally-challenged broad behind us who sang so loudly and so awfully that it annoyed the hell out of most of the people in our section! People need to mindful of that type of annoyance, as well.